


One Big Happy Family — *Toph*

by HufflepuffChildOfApollo



Series: One Big Happy Family [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Cuddles, Enemies to Friends, Firebenders are Very Warm, Gen, Light Angst, So be warned, The word 'bond' is used WAY too many times, Toph Beifong and Zuko are Siblings, Toph Forcibly Adopts Zuko, Toph is Thankful for This, Zuko is a Bad Liar, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, enemies to family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:00:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24871927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HufflepuffChildOfApollo/pseuds/HufflepuffChildOfApollo
Summary: When a grouchy, standoffish firebender shows up at camp, Toph takes it as a personal challenge to bond with him.It's easier than she expected.
Relationships: The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Zuko
Series: One Big Happy Family [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799011
Comments: 37
Kudos: 1753





	One Big Happy Family — *Toph*

Toph's as surprised as anyone to find Prince Dork-o waiting for them at the Air Temple. 

She's even _more_ surprised when his opening line is "Hello, Zuko here." 

It's original, she'll give him that. It catches her attention enough that she actually listens to what he has to say — and _ohh boy_ , does he have a lot to say. He stutters and stumbles through what sounds like a half-rehearsed speech, and even offers himself up as a _prisoner_ before Katara scares him off. 

And the whole time, he's _sincere._ Nervous as all hell, sure, but not lying. She doubts he even _could_ lie if he wanted to — he actually _tells_ them he sent Combustion Man after them, which isn't something a good liar would do. 

The rest of the group don't seem to take her statement to heart, though, and instead go about planning how to keep an eye on the guy so he doesn't try to kill them all in their sleep. As if Toph can't actually sense approaching footsteps — and the guy's none too light on his feet. Sokka and Katara even manage to convince Aang — the _one_ person who could be on Toph's side — that the firebender isn't to be trusted. 

So Toph leaves, remarking that sometimes she wonders who's _really_ the blind one in the team. 

[+]

Toph's attempt to speak with the Prince crashes and burns — literally. In hindsight, sneaking up on his campsite in the dark? Probably a bad move. The others don't see it that way, though, and decide the best course of action is to capture the firebender. 

Interrupting their plans is none other than Combustion Man himself. How he managed to track them to the Air Temple is anyone's guess, but even more stunning is the fact that Prince Sparky himself attempts to intercept the assassination _he paid for_. From the sound of it, Sparky gets blasted off the ledge for his troubles. 

Sokka finally devises a plan, and Combustion Man is taken out by a swift hit from trusty old Boomerang. Well, really, the boomerang _helped;_ the guy's hit in the forehead, which causes him to explode _himself._ Yikes.

Zuko shows up, and the others _finally_ get that _hey, maybe he's not so bad._ Toph refrains from saying _I told you so._ She thinks it, though.

Sparky even apologizes for burning her — even though she's already forgiven him, because hey, accidents happen. Toph's lost count of how many people she's hit in the nuts with a rock spike after being startled. Still, she's gonna give Sparky a hard time over it. 

Aang agrees to take Sparky on as a teacher — "Only if my friends agree."

Toph is the first to agree. "It'll give me plenty of time to get back at him for burning my feet," she says, with her trademark Scary Grin. To his credit, the ex-Prince doesn't seem fazed. Sokka agrees next, laying it on pretty heavy that it's _only_ because Aang needs to learn firebending. 

Yeah, Sokka's gonna be adopting Zuko in the next week or so. 

_If he can beat me to it_ , Toph thinks, as the firebender promises enthusiastically that he won't let them down, sounding just like an excited little guppy-puppy after receiving a treat. 

_Yeah, Sokka's not gonna beat me_. 

[+]

Toph's golden opportunity to bond with the firebender arrives in the form of several chillier-than-usual nights. Toph's shivering, and cursing all the spirits she can name because her feet are _numb,_ how is she supposed to deal —

And then she notices one person in the Temple _isn't_ shivering. And it just so happens to be the one she's been trying to bond with for the past _week._

All is still as she crawls into the firebender's sleeping bag, curling up with her feet tucked between his shins and her hands balled up between her chest and his stomach, and she falls asleep that way, perfectly warm and content —

Until suddenly she's not, and she's awake in the dead of night again. The Prince's heartbeat is all over the place, his breathing distressed — he's not awake, she realizes. She understands nightmares well enough. 

Toph's never been too good at comfort, but nobody else is awake, except Haru, who's busy on watch duty and probably wouldn't like being bothered over something small like this. She'll have to take matters into her own hands. 

[+]

When Zuko wakes at dawn, the _last_ thing he expects is to find the small, blind child clinging to him like a koala-sloth. But find that he does, and he's surprised he wasn't awoken earlier, because her snoring could wake the _dead._ It's with a rueful sigh that he lays back down, after several unsuccessful attempts to remove her. The guy on watch duty — _Haru?_ Offers no help, so he gives up. Trying not to squish the child, because this kid is _mean_ when she's mad, Zuko goes back to sleep. 

_What's weird,_ he thinks just before falling back asleep, _is I didn't have nightmares all night._

[+]

Toph sneaks into Zuko's sleeping bag so often, she finds it hard to sleep when he's on watch duty (which he's finally trusted with after helping rescue Sokka and Katara's dad, and Sokka's girlfriend, from some high-security prison). It reminds her of the time her parents had gotten her a cat-chick that had slept in her bed with her, and after it ran away she couldn't sleep as well. 

Perhaps a better comparison is when Katara stays awake all night while Sokka's gone, because she somehow misses his snoring and tossing and turning. Toph doesn't quite understand that until she tries to get to sleep in her own bedroll that night and it's a little too chilly and a little too empty. 

[+]

Zuko leaves for _another_ Life-Changing Field Trip™, this time with Katara to avenge her mother's death. It's admirable and pret-ty ballsy, Toph will admit, but Toph's still jealous because that's _my_ big brother, Katara, get your own! 

She doesn't say it out loud, of course, because if Sokka finds out she's claimed sibling status already he'll be pissed. _Sokka's got a sister already, why's he need another sibling?_ she wonders grumpily, as she waits on the beach for Appa to return. She misses Appa too, no matter how much she might complain about the big, smelly beast. And Katara, who for all her nagging is a pretty good mother figure. 

But mostly Sparky, because he's grumpy and funny and at this point she _knows_ he's pretending to sleep when she sneaks into his tent, but he lets her do it anyway and by now she's gotten used to sneaking back out before dawn because that's when he does his fire-exercise-thing. 

So she waits. And when he comes back, after Katara's given her mushy 'I-forgive-you' speech and hugged him, and after everyone else has left, Toph walks up and hugs him too. And he freezes for a second before hugging back. 

"Missed you, Sparky," she says quietly.

[+]

Toph can't see what Sparky looks like, but the irregularity of his heartbeat and staggering gait tells her that if she could, he would look like shit. 

Not that the comparison means that much, since she doesn't know what shit looks like either. 

Zuko's leaning pretty heavily on Katara's shoulder, and staggering _a lot_ as he walks. Sokka runs over and takes Zuko's other arm, and together they lead Sparky over to Appa, and lay him on the bison's shaggy fur. Toph can tell they mean to join him, and no _way_ is she passing up a cuddle party, so after Sokka and Sugar Queen are situated, she muscles her way in between Katara and Zuko. 

Sokka's about to ask a question, she can tell, and she realizes he's probably not used to this much heat coming from a human being without them being sick. She assures him it's normal, likely prompting some confusion, but explanations can wait until naptime's over. 

She waits until Sparky's fallen asleep before closing her own eyes, taking her feet off the ground. She pulls his arm around her shoulders, curling up, and she falls asleep like that. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hhh so this was supposed to be longer but my page refreshed while I was writing and I lost the whole Ember Island Players segment I'd written so I figured instead of trying to rewrite that part I'd just finish it as planned, since it was already long enough and that part wasn't really necessary  
> Let me know what you think!


End file.
